EnhanceR is part of the swissuniversities program 'Scientific information: Access, processing & safeguarding'. The aim of the EnhanceR initiative is to provide eScience support to the Swiss research community and to address the growing need of scientists to access professionally supported information technology (IT) platforms.

In March 2017 the project EnhanceR started in succession of eSCT (eScience Coordination Team). EnhanceR builds on the success of the eSCT project, that supported many clients in over 40 projects within two years. Now, EncanceR is the formation of a specialised support unit for research IT with specialists from eight institutions. Thanks to EnhanceR research institutions have easy access to leading specialists in scientific IT.

eSCT: eScience Coordination Team Creating a sustainable national coordination layer for local eScience units

eSCT is part of the SUC P-2 “Scientific information: access, processing and safeguarding” program. It was closed successfully in June 2017. The aim of the eSCT initiative is to address the growing need of scientists to access professionally supported information technology (IT) platforms in order to be competitive.

The term ‘eScience’ refers to activities in science that are related to the computation and storage, analysis and publication of data or to the simulation of scientific processes. Several research institutions in Switzerland have created dedicated eScience support units to provide expert support and access to competitive infrastructure for eScience research on topics including complex data management and flexible cloud computing resources.

However, the support levels and services provided is not homogeneous between institutions. Also, not all the institutions are capable of sustaining a dedicated eScience unit. This poses significant challenges on national collaborative research projects where data needs to be shared and exchanged across institutional boundaries.

The aim of this project is to create a coordination layer on top of existing local eScience support units in Switzerland, with the objective of:

supporting computing in the research sector

coordinating and increasing the knowledge-base, quality, reach and impact of the already established local Swiss eScience support staffs

motivating the creation of units at institutions that still lag behind

harmonizing the quality of eScience support across the country

In its two year period, the eSCT supported researchers across disciplines, from Neuroscience to Astrophysics and Bioinformatics. The service will be coninued with its successive project EnhanceR (see above).